Fwd: Warning signs of the coming financial armageddon, #569

[Max Sawicky]

>>There's a lot of nonsense in financial theory,
but the near-impossibility of beating the market
and the counterproductive nature of excessive
trading aren't part of the nonsense.
> >>
> >
> >This is the conventional wisdom, but so far it has
> not ben borne out by empirical data.
>
> Au contraire! For institutions, see:
> . . .
> THE COMMON STOCK INVESTMENT PERFORMANCE OF INDIVIDUAL INVESTORS
> Using account data for over 60,000 households from a
> large discount brokerage firm, . . .

To me the critical question is not what the average
return is, but what the average is in, say, the top
quintile of investors, and how stable this is.  In
other words, can you bilk the rest of the crowd if
your trading practices are good enough?

mbs